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Letters from a lonely airman

Jim Barnes of Battleford, Saskatchewan hated the Second World War but was determined to do his duty. In several poignant letters he wrote to my aunt Peggy Light, he describes his life in the air force.
9 Pins
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11y
By
Elinor Florence, Author
an old envelope with writing on it and a stamp that reads 9 th c e st
Canadian Air Force
Pearl Harbor Attack
Lucille Ball
Pearl Harbor
The Day After
Air Force
Wartime Letters From A Very Lonely Airman
My aunt Peggy Light was training as a nurse when Jim Barnes wrote this letter, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
a close up of a mail envelope with a stamp on the front and back of it
M Names
Letter Writing
A Letter
Tell Her
Written By
Force
Wartime Letters From A Very Lonely Airman
This is the back of a letter written by my Aunt Peggy to Jim Barnes, with a printed label telling her the recipient is reported missing.
an old envelope with some writing on it
Write To Me
Two By Two
Stamp
Wartime Letters From A Very Lonely Airman
This letter written from my Aunt Peggy to her friend Jim Barnes was eventually returned with the stamp: "Reported Missing."
an old handwritten letter with writing on it
Make Sense
Stuff To Do
Sense
Mindfulness
Writing
Wartime Letters From A Very Lonely Airman
Struggling to make sense of the war, Jim Barnes wrote: "It is a funny world, you are trying to save people from sickness and they are teaching me the best ways to kill the most people."
an old handwritten letter with writing on it
Tommy Dorsey
Led Zeppelin Immigrant Song
Sheet Music
Wartime Letters From A Very Lonely Airman
Jim Barnes writes of his visit to Toronto: "Tommy Dorsey was there with his swing band and I just stood with my mouth open, listening to those guys swing it out."
a long line of headstones in a grassy area with trees in the background and grass growing all around them
Commonwealth
Cemetery
Germany
Travel
Wartime Letters From A Very Lonely Airman
This huge cemetery in Rheinberg, Germany has the graves of more than three thousand Commonwealth servicemen.
an open book with black and white photograph of two people on top of a plane
Air Force Christmas
Christmas Card
Christmas
Wartime Letters From A Very Lonely Airman
A Royal Canadian Air Force Christmas card from Jim Barnes.
the headstones of two men and one woman are shown in front of green grass
Stirling
Rest In Peace
Florence
History
Wartime Letters From A Very Lonely Airman
Jim Barnes was navigator in a Stirling bomber, flying with the New Zealand Squadron 75, when it crashed on a bombing mission. He is buried in Rheinberg, Germany.
an old black and white photo of a woman
Write Letters
Home Town
Time Out
Wartime Letters From A Very Lonely Airman
My beautiful young aunt Peggy Light took time out from her own duties to write letters to the young flyer from her home town of Battleford, Saskatchewan.